The Welder of BlackFire:

Thorn's Past Life-A Mysterious Ally

Chapter Nine: Breaking of Alliance and Another Meeting with Sesshomaru

"Where have you been, Thorn?" asked the baboon-clothed man. The woman was leaning wearily against the wall of Naraku's castle wall. Her eyes opened, glowing a bright green in the dawn.

"Doing what you bid of me," she retorted. "Nothing less."

Naraku looked up at her, his red eyes glowing from beneath the mask. "But what more?" his deep voice asked. She looked up quickly, a fierce glare held only in check by the hum of BlackFire.

"What do you mean?" The sharpness of her tone brought the hanyou's eyes level with her own, but it was uncertain if the question was meant for the hanyou or the sword.

"I mean that you didn't return immediately from your mission, and I am interested in where you were.." he said, his eyes holding her own before he was seemingly forced to glance away.

"I let BlackFire go hunting," replied the woman, turning her head to look at an interesting spot on the far wall.

"Hmm. I see. He massacred many demons in the wood. The scent of blood was overwhelming." He chuckled. "It does not matter anymore. I have one more mission for you, Thorn. The reward for completion of this mission will be extremely generous."

This brought the black-clad woman's head jerking toward the hanyou. Realization glinted in her eyes, and Naraku did not miss its sparkle. She straightened, no longer leaning on the wall, and put her arms to her sides.

"Is something wrong?" asked the half-demon in his melodious tone.

"Yes," she said, retrieving her staff from the wall to her right and looking at its wooden hilt critically. "I'm done. I will not kill them."

This made Naraku straighten and look up, startled. "What makes you think 'they' are the ones I want you to do away with?" he asked innocently, only to receive a side-way's glare from the woman. "Ahh yes, sometimes I forget exactly what you're capable of with your physic powers. Which makes you a perfect choice for this mission. Now, they are powerful, but I am confident you can take care of th-"

"I said no. My mind will not be changed. They are too important to the future for me to kill them, and when I already know their weaknesses at that. I will be going now. Find another servant to do your bidding," and with that she turned and left out the door by her side. She paused, and turned her head to meet his gaze with her right eye. "You will find him a mile south of here if I am certain." She turned her back to the hanyou, who remained in his emotionless state as she left the grounds of his castle.

*

The tall Inu-Youkai lord stopped, emotionless eyes staring straight ahead of him.

"What's the matter my Lord?" squawked Jaken, the ugly toad demon.

"We're being followed," the silver-haired youkai said quietly, threat in his voice. At this the petrified toad spun around, searching the trees and bushes for signs of life.

A quiet chuckle wafted from the tree-tops. A shuffle murmured from the leaves of the trees and a soft, almost untraceable double padding of feet landing on the thick blanket of rotting forest foliage, vibrating in the ground sounded.

"I should have known I couldn't trail you for long without your knowing," came a cool voice as a shadow emerged from the deeper shadows that surrounded them.

The lord's head turned to his right, his golden eyes piercing into the darkness.

"You should have known that you couldn't trail me at all without my knowing, human," spoke the youkai, his face an unreadable slab of granite, his voice its usual coldness. The dark woman frowned.

"Well, then it looks like my training has not been fierce enough and I shall have to try harder in it," she said, giving a backward glance to a shamefully humming sword.

She smells of human blood, yet her stalking abilities seem that of a demon. How is that; unless she is half demon? No, she carries no traits of a youkai, her blood was surely once that of pure human. But now that I concentrate harder, I can smell demonic blood in her. Puzzling, thought the Inu-Youkai, slitting his eyes.

"It would seem so," he said in his quietly fluid voice. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

Tearing her bluish glare from the seemingly pleading song of the sword, she met the demon's gaze, her eyes transforming from their angered welkin-blue to startling emerald. A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth.

"My name..is Thorn, Sesshoumaru," she said, moving gracefully to put a hand on her hip. "And I wanted nothing but to see if you are who you are. The lord of the western lands. But I already saw you were."

Saw? Sesshoumaru thought.

"Yes, Saw. Your battle with The Hanyou. But I shouldn't have been surprised when you gained the Tetsusaiga once again."


Wait...its Her. That girl that was with my brother..

She smirked, knowing his thoughts.

"Your that girl that was with Inuyasha. The one that took up his battle when he was unable to," he said, his eyes narrowing to slits. "I should kill you for interfering, wench. But, why weren't you with him-?"

"In your recent battle with him? The one that was lost because of Kegome and her arrows? Oh, I grew bored with them. I cannot interfere for long, lest I change what is meant to be." She smiled. "But even though I wasn't there to see it in person, I must admit that your last battle with your brother was impressive, even to my little friend," she said, nodding to the sword that glowed grumpily on her back.

A light breeze floated around the trio, making the cloth of the youkai lord rustle and sigh.

"But I did not smell you. You couldn't have been there," he said, his golden eyes searching for an answer in the depths of her green ones.

"No, I wasn't. But that does not mean there was no way for me to witness it, even if I was not in the mist of it," she smiled, as if laughing to herself about in inside joke that he clearly could not understand.

"Hmm," was all he said, as if contemplating whether or not he really cared. But the glimmer in his canine-eyes spoke otherwise.

The smile faded from her face and the sword on the woman's back began to glow sickly, its murmurings desperate. She gave a stern shake of her head and turned back to Sesshoumaru, her eyes glinting with a ferocious fire.

"But why are you here? Are you still not allies with the Hanyou?" he asked, his voice not only curious, but suspicious. She had approached without fear, even though she seemed to know that she had formed an alliance with one of his enemies, and he was not one to get caught in a trap.

"I am allies with many, I try not to form too many enemies, even if BlackFire insists upon doing so," she sighed and the sword grumbled unhappily.

"Hmm. Is that why you are really here? To make amends?" he asked, still confused, but not showing it.

"Well, in a way; yes."


"But that's not exactly it, is it?"

She threw a glare to him, but its intensity was lost on the wave from her eyes to his.

"No, I come here to make alliances, not to apologize about my past actions."

"Watch your tongue when you speak to the great Lord Sesshoumaru!" piped up Jaken in his chirping voice.

A glare from both Sesshoumaru and Thorn burned in the air to the toad demon, a cool one from the Inu-leige and a fiery one from the sword-welding woman.

"If I were you, I'd watch my tongue when talking to anyone, before you loose it," retorted Thorn threateningly with an annoyed snort. The toad youkai again coward behind his monarch's robes.

She glared down at Jaken, eyes burnishing sapphires. Sesshoumaru stepped in front of the sparking gaze of the black-clad woman, breaking its electric tie.

"Oh come now! I wanted to kill him without a blink!" she cried quietly, her glare turning from the defenseless toad demon to the great dog-demon. His expression flirted with the thought of a smirk.

"Unfortunately, his skull is too think to knock sense into it," the lord said, his voice on the verge of amusement.

She straightened. "Who said I was going to knock any sense into it? Just make it explode with a persuasive thought...." she said, again meeting the gaze of the Youkai with a grin, and to her surprise, his lips curled into a smile.

"Well, now there's a surprise. I don't think, in all my Seeing, that I've viewed you smiling but for once," she said, her own face contorting to a sly smirk.

"Yes, well your 'Seeing', as you put it, doesn't seem to be all that reliable, does it?" he asked.

"Well I guess I need more training on my Seeing as well as my stalking, eh?"

The setting moon's gleam brought a startling silver sheen to Sesshoumaru's soft locks. A caressing, warm breeze rolled along on the air, causing the luxurious falls of hair, both dark and light, to sway and dance in a shinning display of beauty. The tall trees that surrounded the trio brushed the air tenderly with their lithe, jade flora, perfuming the air with their earthy scent. The moon's arcane rays of light spilling into the small area were the trees had grown less dense, skipping through the tree branches as a fairy on fragile wings.

The remainder of the shadows that had concealed Thorn dispersed, creeping into the crevices of the wood to reveal her form without the night's stifling cloak as dawn approached at Sesshoumaru's back. Her once raging navy eyes shone in the dawn's approach a rich, liquid chartreuse.

The rising sun's rays revealed what lay in the shadows not moments before, yet in its position, was forced to banish another into the shadows. The sovereign's face became plastered in darkness, only his golden eyes kept their proud sheen.

A shuffle of the youkai lord's white robes brought the gazes of the two down on the pitiful Jaken, who had risked a glance from behind his master's clothing at the sudden silence.

Sesshoumaru's gaze was the first to return to the other.

"I must be on my way," said the Inu-Youkai meaningfully, capturing the green gaze of the woman once again. She nodded and turned away. But she hesitated and looked back in a quick glance to meet with Sesshoumaru's golden eyes once again.

At a slight buzz from the sword, the woman turned back and leapt high into the trees, retreating into their safety.

Jaken's mouth opened to speak, only to be silenced with a quick glare from his master. They moved on through the forest.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Authoress' Note: I can't believe I forgot to put a disclaimer down last time! I was just so rushed for time since I was putting up another fic. Hmm, mysterious ni? Hai! Very mysterious. Oh! I just can't wait! Tonight the new episodes of Inuyasha come on! -grins happily-

Inuyasha: Your really going to stay up until 12:30 just to watch me? Even though you have to be up at six?

J: -snort- no! I'm staying up to watch Sesshoumaru. But since it looks like Sesshy wont be appearing, I'll just have to deal with watching Koga

Koga: -puffs chest up proudly- you see, Inuyasha? This is why I like Kegome! She's caring!

YELP!

Koga: -holds smarting tail- what was that for? -growl-

Inuyasha: -pretends to be innocent-

All: -glare-

J: -gets out wooden spoon- dammit Inuyasha! -beings to hit him-

BAM!!!!!!!! BAM!!!!!!!!!!! BAM!!!!!!!!!! BAM!!!!!! BAM!!!!!!!!! BAM!!!!!

J's mother: Is everything okay in there?

J: -hiss- everyone hide!

All:-hides-

J: Yes mother! Everything's fine!

JM (J's mother): Who are you talking to, dear?

J: ahh, just, ahh, myself! You know…

JM: Are you talking to your imaginary friends again?

All: -snicker-

J: -hits all of them- she's talking about you, you nitwits!-hiss-

All: -holds various bumps on head-

JM: What was that noise?

J: Just dropped the remote.

JM: Lunch will be ready in a few minutes -leaves hall outside of door-

All: -whew-

J: Koga dear, can you do the disclaimer. I'd have Inuyasha do it, but he's not good enough anymore

Koga: certainly! -smug look to seething Inuyasha

Inuyasha: -being held back my Miroku- Lemme at him! I'll rip that damn tail off his ass!

J: -hiss-

Inuyasha: -grumble- I've lost my job. -sob-

All: -rolls eyes- Just go Koga!

Koga: J does not own Inuyasha comp, nor I, although she does own Thorn and BlackFire.

J: -claps- Good boy! -throws him a doggy bone, which he quickly eats- (can you imagine that? Lol)